This currently described device relates to an improvement in baseball-practice devices, and more particularly to collapsible and truly portable multi-purpose practice device suitable for batting practice, pitching practice, catching practice, throwing practice, and fielding practice for use by one person or two persons and which furthermore is easily collapsible, easily returned to an operational state, and easily transportable.
Baseball is an extremely popular sport from the backyard player to the sandlot to schools to professional sports. Many elements are associated with this popular game. Among one of the most important is batting as without good batting skills no runs can be scored. For defensive play, good pitching, catching, fielding, and throwing skills are also key elements to the overall game play.
Coaching and practice are key elements to attaining better batting skills, pitching skills, catching skills, fielding skills, and throwing skills in play. For batting, a common method of improving a player's swing is to bat against live pitchers or against a pitching machine. This of course requires more than one ball player, in the case of live pitching, or many players merely standing around waiting for their turn to bat in the case of pitching machines. Time and manpower are wasted and pitching machines are costly in purchase and in maintenance. Additionally, most players also like to take practice swings against a baseball during a game while waiting for their turn to bat.
Several batting type devices have been designed for the purpose of permitting a single player to practice swinging at a ball with a bat typically where a single rope or cord was merely tethered to a ball. After striking the ball using this device, the ball would continue to circle around and around until it loses its speed or the cord becomes wrapped around its support structure. In such instances, the player has to reset the ball by unwinding it or waiting for the ball to stop circling. Time is wasted in the process.
A patent to Ratajac (U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,791) teaches a collapsible portable batting cage having an upper frame assembly, a lower frame assembly, a rear frame assembly on top and bottom, and one side frame assembly on each side of the upper and lower frame assemblies. A length of shock cord (elastic bungee type cord) is threaded through a vertical bore hole in a ball. The shock cord attaches to the top front, back to the top rear, and is insertably adjustable into one of a plurality of holes, of pre-determined spacing, on one side of the top rear assembly. The other end of the shock cord attaches to the bottom front and back to the rear frame on the bottom.
The ball is suspended approximately mid-height a the front by a non-elastic line (referred to as a safety line) attached to the ball with its two ends attached at approximately mid-height at the rear on the side frames. The height of the static position of the ball is adjustable by moving the shock cord at the rear frame assembly to different locations. This device is portable due to the nature of its light weight components and it is also collapsible which allows it to be stored or carried in a compact manner. Collapsing this device, however, requires that all fasteners must be removed from the frame components and that the frame components be removed from each other and, when its use is required, that they all be re-assembled. An extremely time-consuming process. In addition, the safety line has a tendency to interfere with a swing which is angled slightly up or down from a perfect horizontal swing.
A patent to McKenna (U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,540) describes a portable apparatus for the practice of a person's batting swings that includes a frame, a net, and a ball attached to non-elastic cords. Each lower terminal end of the frame has a ball-engaging eye bolt. A pair of net-engaging uprights of the frame have a pair of tubes that are formed as one-piece therewith for ease of manufacture by eliminating a need for welding. Button fasteners replaceably maintain the members of the frame together for ease of fabrication and collapsing by eliminating a need for nuts and bolts. A second upper member of the frame has a plurality of ball-engaging blind bores for adjusting the height of the ball.
A lowermost terminal edge of the net drapes so as to prevent any balls from rolling thereunder while providing a dampening effect for the ball when hit against the net. There is no lower cross member which eliminates any rebound of a ball that hits low on the net. One section of the non-elastic cords extend from the ball first upward to the top front then to the side attaching any one of the pre-determined blind bores. Two sections of the non-elastic cords emanate from the bottom of the ball and attach to either bottom rear side of the frame. This device eliminates the problems associated with the safety lines of Ratajac; but, the non-elasticity of the cords limits its effect of travel and renders it slower to rebound and reset.
As with the Ratajac device, this device, though it may be “collapsible” it too must be taken apart for travel and re-assembled when need. Also a time-consuming process. Typically, after each device is first assembled, users generally leave them assembled and either leave them where there are or find a means to transport them, in their assembled state, to the desired location. Either prospect renders each such device less desirable. Moreover, if left assembled, each takes up quite a bit of storage space.
A patent issued to the current inventors solved and overcame the problems noted in the prior-art devices; U.S. Pat. No. 7,252,603, which issued on Aug. 7, 2007. Our patented device solved all the problems associated with the above referenced prior-art devices. Because the frame components are hingedly connected, the entire device of our patent was truly collapsible. From its assembled state, the device easily and quickly “folds” into a “dis-assembled” state for storage or transportation and easily and quickly “unfolds” into an assembled stated when it is needed. Height adjustment for the ball is not based on a pre-determined set of height increments but can be adjusted to accommodate even the slightest of increments to the millimeter.
Safety/return lines are structured as not to interfere with a batter's swing and a removably attachable rear elastic cord removably attachable to the ball facilitates resetting of the ball after it has been struck and is a greater practice aid for an experience player. Its removability permits a less experienced player, who may have a tendency to under swing the ball and hit the cord below the ball, to also use the same device by merely removing this cord from the bottom of the ball. Detailed adjustments to all the cord components permits a skilled user to make minute adjustments to tautness to thereby establish a sense of dynamic reality in the batting/swinging practice.
Our patented device has been greatly improved upon by the currently described device/system contained in the application. It is considered a system in that it is a multi-function device which permits a single user, with no outside assistance, to practice the five major elements of the game; batting, catching, fielding, throwing, and pitching. The new multi-function device is more easily collapsible, more easily restorable to a useful mode, more easily transportable, and more easily storable.
The batting element, though similar to our patented device is more easily adjustable for different sized user. A web-like elastic concave netting in back of the ball allows a user to throw the ball into the netting from and distance to hone throwing skills. Depending on from where thrown and to where on the netting, the ball will be cast back to the thrower either as a fly ball, a line drive, or a grounder thereby honing skills for fielding ground balls and catching line drives or fly balls.
The pitching element is on the opposite side of the catching element. It has a cut-out area with is the size of an average strike zone with a pocket therein to retain any balls thrown into the strike zone. As a complete universal baseball practice system, our new inventive concept cannot be beat. It allows for a single user to practice all the key elements to the game or it allows for two people to use it at the same time; one person practicing on the pitching side and the other person practicing either batting, catching, fielding, or throwing on the opposite side [the batting/catching side].
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the universal baseball practice system of this disclosure. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the universal baseball practice system of this disclosure. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed universal baseball practice system of this disclosure in a different manner or by modifying the universal baseball practice system of this disclosure within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the universal baseball practice system of this disclosure may be had by referring to the summary of the universal baseball practice system of this disclosure and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the universal baseball practice system of this disclosure defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.